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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

What age would a baby need both breasts at one feed?

26 replies

Gemmitygem · 05/11/2006 15:00

My DS is 4 weeks old, feeds 7-8 times a day for 20 minutes, I give him one breast so he gets the different types of milk etc. He seems totally full afterwards and there is often still milk squirting out of the breast, so I wait till the next feed to give him the other breast. Is this right? And roughly what age would they have both breasts at every feed? Any tips appreciated!

OP posts:
MamaG · 05/11/2006 15:02

Gem, I did the same as you, alternating breasts with each feed - I can't remember the age of mine when they had a feed from both, but somebody will be on here soon!

CrocodileKate · 05/11/2006 15:04

Mine never needed feeding from both breasts. I gave up bf the first at 4 months and the second at 6 months.

QuootiePieBANGERSandMash · 05/11/2006 15:08

umm... I think maybe when he went on a growth spurt at 4 or 6 weeks, he constantly fed so I swapped everytime I felt empty on one side... 20/30 minutes or so?

PrettyCandles · 05/11/2006 15:25

All of mine have been two-boobers from day 1! Only occasionally would theybe satisfied with a one-boob snack.

somethingunderthebedisdrooling · 05/11/2006 15:35

it isn't an exact science. really you should go by your baby's cues. if you offer the second and he refuses then leave it at that. just offer. also dd only took both at growth spurts. she didn't regularly accept both till about 10 months. some people have to offer both much earlier on ... and it has nothing to do with how much milk you make.

katylou25 · 05/11/2006 15:36

Both of mine have been both boobers from the beginning greedy guzzlers!

3andnomore · 05/11/2006 16:10

Gemmytygem...I always just used one breast er feed, or even the same breast in subsequent feeds if they wanted more say within 2 hours of the last feed as I had a very strong let down!
I sometimes, rarely would use both breasts in one feed if they were going through a growthspurt and would feed continiusly!
There is no hard or fast rules about when and if you have to feed from both breasts, as it completley depends on your own childs needs and on your capacity to store milk, which is alrger in some women then others, etc...!

tiktok · 05/11/2006 17:12

3and is right.

It's wrong for mothers to think they must feed from both sides, and wrong for them to feel they must not.

It makes sense to always offer the second, at least in the first weeks. But if the baby doesn't want it, that's ok.

blueshoes · 05/11/2006 17:26

I think I am low storage capacity. ds feeds from both breasts from birth and every 1 to 1.5 hours round the clock!

Ellieorange · 05/11/2006 17:29

low storage capacity isn't a bad thing if it means you can stop wearing breastpads before lo is 11 months!! yes, like 'somethingunder' i went single-breasted till 10mths.

blueshoes · 05/11/2006 17:55

hi ellie, I still leak though!

Original poster
Gemmitygem · 05/11/2006 18:06

ok, thanks for your replies. I guess if he's happy (he comes off the boob himself and really doesn't want any more, even when I check there is loads of milk left), it must be OK... It's quite nice giving the other boob a rest iyswim...

OP posts:
somethingunderthebedisdrooling · 05/11/2006 18:25

yeah, never took both, but she still wanted to feed every 1.5 - 2 hrs. would always refuse the second one but never went 3 hrs between feed.

now at 18 months she has fallen in love with bf and would hang on all day if i let her.

alibobble · 05/11/2006 22:01

dd was a 2 boob girl pretty much from day one.

WriggleJiggle · 05/11/2006 22:17

dd only ever has 1 side (nearly 7 mths). When she did the growth spurt thing very occasionally I'd offer both sides. Not sure I needed to though, she wasn't complaining, it was just me thinking that I should.

shish · 06/11/2006 10:26

This is a good question.. I've been told I should always feed from both. But I have only fd from one aswell. Sometimes ds only wants to feed for 5 mins. I guess you can't force them to have more. All that feedback from everyone is very interesting and useful

louloubelle · 06/11/2006 14:50

DD fed one side only, every couple of hours, til a year, and my ds (7mo) has both sides every time, except if he is having a sneaky snack, then one side only. So suppose it depends on the baby...

deaconblue · 06/11/2006 20:37

Ds mostly had one boob but always had "double boob delight" for his last meal in the evening. I always offered the other one though just in case.

WriggleJiggle · 07/11/2006 18:32

shoppingbagsundereyes - "double boob delight"

OldieMum · 07/11/2006 19:17

DS (now 17 weeks) has taken both at almost every feed. I was advised to do this.

USAUKMum · 07/11/2006 19:50

Both mine were "double siders" until they were on 3meals + 2 snacks a day (7 - 8 mths). then they dropped to one side. Can anyone say -- fast metabolisms?

hermykne · 07/11/2006 19:54

i always offered both, the 1st one they feed off was usually a less strong squirt than the 2nd one after a feed. but i was advised by the wealth of knowledge here to do so and i did.
my boob size reduced at about 6/7mths even though i was still feeding both sides at each time.
mine never refused

mamijacacalys · 07/11/2006 21:08

Both mine have only had 1 boob per feed, except for the last one before bed, where they would have both. Both have fed the same (guzzled it all within 10min before losing interest) although my DS was along the 50th centile for growth and my DD on the 91st(!) Fed DS like this until 14 months. Still feeding DD like this at 4 months.
So the size and sex of my babies apparently made no difference - both have had similar feeding habits.
I too felt worried with DS that he didn't want 2 boobs all the time, as much of what I'd read seemed to say '2 boobs for 20 min each' sort of thing. But as it became apparent his growth was steady and he was perfectly contented, I relaxed and enjoyed the feeding. Happy feeding!!

Original poster
Gemmitygem · 07/11/2006 21:28

thanks; this is reassuring cos as you say the books tell you 20mins on each, but he never wants more than 20-25 mins on one and is then full enough to go 4 hours usually (he's one month old)...

OP posts:
Pushkin · 07/11/2006 23:32

Gemmitygem: hope not to re-upset you again, but may I recommend a shorter time on both? My experience with dd was that I got mastitis BECAUSE i was only giving her one tit at a time because she could go for 40 mins on one an dnot want the 2nd, and then go for 4 hours with no feed, just like your ds. So in effect the tit that didn't feed her had to wait 8 hours before being unloaded. I was told by the lactation consultants that I must feed 15-20 mins on each side and switch over REGARDLESS of whether the tit felt empty. The importnat thing is to get your tits to produce the amoutn he needs, rather than over producing. if he's one month old then your supply could still be too big, and you need to teach it to diminish. after I got over mastitis thanks to feeding her on both sides and never looked back. So in your situation I would give him just over 10 mins on the (e.g.) LEFT tit and then swap and finish off on the RIGHT. (It will feel wrong perhaps to start with because your left tit may still feel full. but then it will learn to produce less. whereas if you give him a full feed on just one tit it might be stimlated by his sucking to produce more than he needs, and then have to store it over 8 hours.) Then at the next feed you start with the RIGHT tit, so as to give it a chance at being the first tit. Believe me, mastitis is a real concern and can catch you unawares. maybe others have the opposite experience. sorry if i'm trampling over ground others have touched on in the thread before... good luck anddon't worry. Great to have such a good milk supply!

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